MC Helps Sponsor Table Tennis Tournament in China

July 16, 2012

Mississippi College played a key role as a major sponsor of a successful table tennis tournament in China where the lively Olympic game reigns as the national sport.

The two-day event at the South China University of Technology drew 152 players from 34 colleges and high schools, both men and women.

Mississippi College’s table tennis team finished with a No. 2 ranking in North America at the 2012 National Collegiate Table Tennis Association championships in Plano, Texas in April. The Choctaws squad is dominated by stellar players from China’s Guangdong area. So it’s fitting that MC co-sponsored the tournament in the same region of the country.

Mississippi College was breaking new ground by its participation.

“This is the first time a U.S. university sponsored a table tennis tournament in China,” said Yuesheng Qiu, a key organizer of the event.

“This was not only a table tennis tournament, but a great gathering for table tennis fans,” added Qiu, head table tennis coach at Guangdong Teachers College of Foreign Languages and the Arts.

Mississippi College partnered with Fengyun Sports Company, LTD to make it happen.

MC table tennis coach Ken Qiu was delighted with the results. “It’s been great publicity in the Guangdong area through table tennis,” said the former MC table tennis captain. “We hope we can add fresh talent from South China to compete in NCTTA tournaments during the 2012-2013 season.”

A staff member at the Christian university’s Office of Global Education, Qiu made the journey to China to help organize the games. Returning home, he presented a tournament T-shirt to President Lee Royce in June. The T-shirts featuring Mississippi College’s name were distributed to all of the tournament referees in China.

Qiu organized the MC team on the Clinton campus in 2007. Under his leadership, MC’s squad has progressed to become one of the elite programs among the 158 colleges competing in NCTTA ranks around the United States and Canada. He’s the son of the China tournament organizer and professor Yuesheng Qiu.

Mississippi College plays in the Dixie Division where they’ve been perennial champs the past five years. The team will host the 2012 Dixie Division tournament during MC’s Homecoming in late October.

For more information about the Mississippi College table tennis team, contact Ken Qiu at 601-925-7703 or qiu@mc.edu.